System and method for influencing a position on a search result list generated by a computer network search engine

ABSTRACT

A system and method for enabling information providers using a computer network such as the Internet to influence a position for a search listing within a search result list generated by an Internet search engine. The system and method of the present invention provides a database having accounts for the network information providers. Each account contains at least one search listing having at least three components: a description, a search term comprising one or more keywords, and a bid amount. The network information provider may add, delete, or modify a search listing after logging into his or her account via an authentication process. The network information provider influences the position for a search listing through a continuous online competitive bidding process. The bidding process occurs when the network information provider enters a new bid amount, which is preferably a money amount, for a search listing. The system then compares this bid amount with all other bid amounts for the same search term, and generates a rank value for all search listings having that search term. The rank value generated by the bidding process determines where the network information providers listing will appear on the search results list page that is generated in response to a query of the search term by a searcher located at a client computer on the computer network. A higher bid by a network information provider will result in a higher rank value and a more advantageous placement.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a division of application Ser. No.09/911,674, filed Jul. 24, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,092,901, which is acontinuation of application Ser. No. 09/322,677, entitled SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR INFLUENCING A POSITION ON A SEARCH RESULT LIST GENERATED BY ACOMPUTER NETWORK SEARCH ENGINE, filed on May 28, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No.6,269,361, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The transfer of information over computer networks has become anincreasingly important means by which institutions, corporations, andindividuals do business. Computer networks have grown over the yearsfrom independent and isolated entities established to serve the needs ofa single group into vast internets which interconnect disparate physicalnetworks and allow them to function as a coordinated system. Currently,the largest computer network in existence is the Internet. The Internetis a worldwide interconnection of computer networks that communicateusing a common protocol. Millions of computers, from low end personalcomputers to high end super computers, are connected to the Internet.

The Internet has emerged as a large community of electronicallyconnected users located around the world who readily and regularlyexchange significant amounts of information. The Internet continues toserve its original purposes of providing for access to and exchange ofinformation among government agencies, laboratories, and universitiesfor research and education. In addition, the Internet has evolved toserve a variety of interests and forums that extend beyond its originalgoals. In particular, the Internet is rapidly transforming into a globalelectronic marketplace of goods and services as well as of ideas andinformation.

This transformation of the Internet into a global marketplace was drivenin large part by the introduction of an information system known as theWorld Wide Web (“the web”). The web is a unique distributed databasedesigned to give wide access to a large universe of documents. Thedatabase records of the web are in the form of documents known as“pages”. These pages reside on web servers and are accessible via theInternet. The web is therefore a vast database of information dispersedacross countless individual computer systems that is constantly changingand has no recognizable organization or morphology. Computers connectedto the Internet may access the web pages via a program known as abrowser, which has a powerful, simple-to-learn graphical user interface.One powerful technique supported by the web browser is known ashyperlinking, which permits web page authors to create links to otherweb pages which users can then retrieve by using simple point-and-clickcommands on the web browser.

The pages may be constructed in any one of a variety of formattingconventions, such as Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), and may includemultimedia information content such as graphics, audio, and movingpictures. Any person with a computer and a connection to the Internetmay access any publicly accessible page posted on the web. Thus, apresence on the World Wide Web has the capability to introduce aworldwide base of consumers to businesses, individuals, and institutionsseeking to advertise their products and services to potential customers.Furthermore, the ever increasing sophistication in the design of webpages, made possible by the exponential increase in data transmissionrates and computer processing speeds, makes the web an increasinglyattractive medium for advertising and other business purposes, as wellas for the free flow of information.

The availability of powerful new tools that facilitate the developmentand distribution of Internet content has led to a proliferation ofinformation, products, and services offered on the Internet and dramaticgrowth in the number of consumers using the Internet. International DataCorporation, commonly referred to as IDC, estimates that the number ofInternet users will grow from approximately 97 million worldwide in 1998to approximately 320 million worldwide by the end of 2002. In addition,commerce conducted over the Internet has grown and is expected to growdramatically. IDC estimates that the percentage of Internet users buyinggoods and services on the Internet will increase from approximately 28%at the end of 1998 to approximately 40% in 2002, and that over the sameperiod of time, the total value of goods and services purchased over theInternet will increase from approximately $32.4 billion to approximately$425.7 billion.

The Internet has emerged as an attractive new medium for advertisers ofinformation, products and services to reach consumers. However, theWorld Wide Web is composed of a seemingly limitless number of web pagesdispersed across millions of different computer systems all over theworld in no discernible organization. Mechanisms, such as directoriesand search engines, have been developed to index and search theinformation available on the web and thereby help Internet users locateinformation of interest. These search services enable consumers tosearch the Internet for a listing of web sites based on a specifictopic, product, or service of interest.

Search services are, after e-mail, the most frequently used tool on theInternet. As a result, web sites providing search services have offeredadvertisers significant reach into the Internet audience and have givenadvertisers the opportunity to target consumer interests based onkeyword or topical search requests.

In a web-based search on an Internet search engine, a user enters asearch term comprising one or more keywords, which the search enginethen uses to generate, in real time, a listing of web pages that theuser may access via a hyperlink. The search engines and web sitedirectories of the prior art, however, rely upon processes for assigningresults to keywords that often generate irrelevant search results. Theautomated search technology that drives many search engines in the priorart rely in large part on complex, mathematics-based database searchalgorithms that select and rank web pages based on multiple criteriasuch as keyword density and keyword location. The search resultsgenerated by such mechanisms often rely on blind mathematical formulasand may be random and even irrelevant. In addition, search engines thatuse automated search technology to catalog search results generally relyon invisible web site descriptions, or “meta tags”, that are authored byweb site promoters. Web site owners may freely tag their sites as theychoose. Consequently, some web site promoters or promoters insertpopular search terms into their web site meta tags which are notrelevant because by doing so they may attract additional consumerattention at little to no marginal cost. Finally, many web sites havesimilar meta tags, and the search engines of the prior art are simplynot equipped to prioritize results in accordance with consumers'preferences.

Search engines and web site directories may also rely on the manualefforts of limited editorial staffs to review web page information.Since comprehensive manual review and indexing of an unpredictable,randomly updated database such as the web is an impossible task, searchengine results are often incomplete or out-of-date. Moreover, as thevolume and diversity of Internet content has grown, on many popular websearch sites, consumers must frequently click-through multiple branchesof a hierarchical directory to locate web sites responsive to theirsearch request, a process that is slow and unwieldy from the consumer'sstandpoint. Thus, the prior art search engines are ineffective for webpage owners seeking to target their web exposure and distributeinformation to the attention of interested users on a current andcomprehensive basis.

Furthermore, current paradigms for generating web site traffic, such asbanner advertising, follow traditional advertising paradigms and fail toutilize the unique attributes of the Internet. In the banner advertisingmodel, web site promoters seeking to promote and increase their webexposure often purchase space on the pages of popular commercial websites. The web site promoters usually fill this space with a colorfulgraphic, known as a banner, advertising their own web site. The bannermay act a hyperlink a visitor may click on to access the site. Liketraditional advertising, banner advertising on the Internet is typicallypriced on an impression basis with advertisers paying for exposures topotential consumers. Banners may be displayed at every page access, or,on search engines, may be targeted to search terms. Nonetheless,impression-based advertising inefficiently exploits the Internet'sdirect marketing potential, as the click-through rate, the rate ofconsumer visits a banner generates to the destination site, may be quitelow. Web site promoters are therefore paying for exposure to manyconsumers who are not interested in the product or service beingpromoted, as most visitors to a web site seek specific information andmay not be interested in the information announced in the banner.Likewise, the banner often fails to reach interested individuals, sincethe banner is not generally searchable by search engines and theinterested persons may not know where on the web to view the banner.

Thus, the traditional paradigms of advertising and search enginealgorithms fail to effectively deliver relevant information via theWorld Wide Web to interested parties in a cost-effective manner.Internet advertising can offer a level of targetability, interactivity,and measurability not generally available in other media. With theproper tools, Internet advertisers have the ability to target theirmessages to specific groups of consumers and receive prompt feedback asto the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.

Ideally, web site promoters should be able to control their placement insearch result listings so that their listings are prominent in searchesthat are relevant to the content of their web site. The search enginefunctionality of the Internet needs to be focused in a new direction tofacilitate an on-line marketplace which offers consumers quick, easy andrelevant search results while providing Internet advertisers andpromoters with a cost-effective way to target consumers. A consumerutilizing a search engine that facilitates this on-line marketplace willfind companies or businesses that offer the products, services, orinformation that the consumer is seeking. In this on-line marketplace,companies selling products, services, or information bid in an openauction environment for positions on a search result list generated byan Internet search engine. Since advertisers must pay for eachclick-through referral generated through the search result listsgenerated by the search engine, advertisers have an incentive to selectand bid on those search keywords that are most relevant to their website offerings. The higher an advertiser's position on a search resultlist, the higher likelihood of a “referral”; that is, the higher thelikelihood that a consumer will be referred to the advertiser's web sitethrough the search result list. The openness of this advertisingmarketplace is further facilitated by publicly displaying, to consumersand other advertisers, the price bid by an advertiser on a particularsearch result listing.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a systemand method for enabling promoters to influence a position on a searchresult listing generated by an Internet search engine for a specifiedset of search terms.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a system andmethod for enabling promoters to specify key search terms to the searchengine so as to target their search result list placement to the searchqueries most relevant to their business.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a systemand method for enabling promoters to examine their current search termand placement couplings online and to make substantially instantaneouschanges to their selected search terms, placements, and web site titlesand descriptions.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide promoters witha search engine that permits such promoters to influence a higherplacement in a search result list via a continuous, competitive onlinebidding process.

It is another object of the present invention to provide acost-effective method of Internet advertising where the web sitepromoter is charged in direct proportion to the number of actual visitsgenerated by the search engine.

It is still another object of the present invention to create a newsystem of advertising where advertisers target the most interestedconsumers by participating in a free market which attaches a monetarycost for an advertiser's listing in a search result list generated usingadvertiser-selected search terms.

It is yet another object of the present invention to create an openmarket for Internet advertising that is fair to consumers andadvertisers, where advertiser-placed listings in a search result listare clearly labeled as paid advertising.

It is also an object of the present invention to allow a web sitepromoter to control a title or description associated with the promoterslisting in a search result list generated by the search engine.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present invention seeks to address the aforementioned problems byproviding a system and method for enabling a web site promoter using acomputer network to influence a position within a search result listgenerated by an Internet search engine. More particularly, the presentinvention relates to a system and method to enable a web site promoterto define a search listing for a search result list, select a searchterm relevant to the promoter's web site, and influence a search resultlist position for the search listing on an Internet search engine. Whenan Internet user enters the search terms in a search engine query, thesearch engine will generate a search result list with the web sitepromoter's listing in a position influenced by one or more parametersdefined by the promoter.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a web site promoterselects a search term and influences a position within the search resultlist generated by that search term by participating in an onlinecompetitive bidding process. This online competitive bidding process isknown as a “pay-for-performance” process and may be employed inconjunction with an Internet search engine. “Pay-for-performance”applies market principles to advertising on the Internet. ConventionalInternet search engines do not provide a way for web site promoters toeasily predict the position of their web site in search results orguarantee their appearance in search results containing their web sitedescription. A tool enabling advertisers to target web search termsrelevant to their business and to pinpoint the placement of their website description within the search results provides a powerful advantageto businesses and others seeking to increase their web exposure.Furthermore, a competitive bidding process and pricing based on numberof web site referrals generated helps ensure that the pricing structurereflects the market and is accessible to advertisers of all budgetsizes.

To participate in the process, an advertiser, such as a web sitepromoter, may access the advertiser's user account through a secure website. The advertiser may use the account to place bids on search termsthat are relevant to the advertiser's web site. Each bid is specific toa search term-web site combination and corresponds to a money amountthat the advertiser will pay to the owner of the search engine each timea searcher clicks on the advertiser's hyperlinked listing in the searchresult list generated by the search engine. The searcher's click willresult in an access request being sent to the advertiser's web site,which will respond by transmitting the advertiser's web page to thesearcher's browser. The charge to the advertiser for the placement istherefore directly proportional to the benefit received, since thecharge is based on the number of referrals to the advertiser's web sitethat were generated by the search engine.

The higher the bid, the more advantageous the placement in the searchresult list that is generated when the bidded search term is entered bya searcher using the search engine. The search result list is arrangedin order of decreasing bid amount, with the search listing correspondingto the highest bids displayed first to the searcher. Preferably, eachsearch listing corresponding to a bid is identified on the display as apaid listing. Most preferably, the bid amount is included on theidentification. In addition, the search result list of the presentinvention is preferably combined with “non-paid” web site descriptionsgenerated by a conventional Internet search engine, preferably includinglistings generated according to mathematics-based database searchalgorithms as discussed above. The combination of paid and unpaidlistings helps ensure that the searcher will receive the most completeand relevant search results. Most preferably, the non-paid listings areconsidered to have a bid amount of zero and are therefore underneath thepaid results.

According to a first embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a system and method for enabling the web site promoters toinfluence a position for a search listing within a search result listgenerated by an Internet search engine. The web site promoter firstselects a search term comprising one or more keywords relevant to thecontent of the web site to be listed. The web site promoter influencesthe rank position for the search listing through an ongoing onlinecompetitive bidding process with other web site promoters. The biddingprocess occurs when an advertiser enters a new bid amount for anexisting search listing or enters a bid amount for a new search listing.Preferably, the promoter's bid is then processed in real time. This bidamount is compared with all other bid amounts from other promoters forthe same search term, and generates new rank values for all searchlistings having that search term. The rank value determines the positionwhere the promoter's web site description will appear on the searchresults list page that is generated when the search term is entered intothe query box on the search engine by a searcher. A higher bid willresult in a higher rank value and a more advantageous placement, whichis preferably near the beginning of the search results list page.Preferably, the quantity used in the competitive bidding process is amoney amount that the web site promoter will pay to an owner of theInternet search engine each time the advertiser's web site is referredby the search engine. Most preferably, this money amount will bededucted from an account balance that is retained in the promoter'saccount for each time the promoter's web site is referred by the searchengine.

One embodiment of the system and method of the present inventionprovides a database having accounts for the web site promoters. Eachaccount includes contact and billing information for a web sitepromoter. In addition, each account includes at least one searchlisting, each search listing having five components: a description ofthe web site to be listed, the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the website, a search term comprising one or more keywords, a bid amount, and atitle for the search listing. Each account may also include thepromoter's payment history and a history of search listings entered bythe user. The promoter logs in to his or her account via anauthentication process running on a secure server. Once logged in, thepromoter may add, delete, or modify a search listing. The functions ofadding or deleting a search listing, or modifying the bid amount of asearch listing is to initiate the competitive bidding process describedabove. All search listing changes and modifications are processedsubstantially in real time to support the online competitive biddingprocess.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the relationship between a largenetwork and one embodiment of the system and method for generating apay-for-performance search result of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a chart of menus, display screens, and input screens used inone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the advertiser user login processperformed in one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the administrative user loginprocess performed in one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of data for an account record for use with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method of adding money to anaccount record used in one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a search result list generated by oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a change bids process used in oneembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a screen display used in the changebids process of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Methods and systems for generating a pay-for-performance search resultdetermined by a site promoter, such as an advertiser, over aclient/server based computer network system are disclosed. The followingdescription is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to makeand use the invention. For purposes of explanation, specificnomenclature is set forth to provide a thorough understanding of thepresent invention. Descriptions of specific applications are providedonly as examples. Various modifications to the preferred embodimentswill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generalprinciples defined herein may be applied to other embodiments andapplications without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited tothe embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistentwith the principles and features disclosed herein.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is an example of a distributedsystem 10 configured as client/server architecture used in a preferredembodiment of the present invention. A “client” is a member of a classor group that uses the services of another class or group to which it isnot related. In the context of a computer network, such as the Internet,a client is a process (i.e. roughly a program or task) that requests aservice which is provided by another process, known as a server program.The client process uses the requested service without having to know anyworking details about the other server program or the server itself. Innetworked systems, a client process usually runs on a computer thataccesses shared network resources provided by another computer running acorresponding server process. However, it should also be noted that itis possible for the client process and the server process to run on thesame computer.

A “server” is typically a remote computer system that is accessible overa communications medium such as the Internet. The client process may beactive in a second computer system, and communicate with the serverprocess over a communications medium that allows multiple clients totake advantage of the information-gathering capabilities of the server.Thus, the server essentially acts as an information provider for acomputer network.

The block diagram of FIG. 1 therefore shows a distributed system 10comprising a plurality of client computers 12, a plurality of advertiserweb servers 14, an account management server 22, and a search engine webserver 24, all of which are connected to a network 20. The network 20will be hereinafter generally referred to as the Internet. Although thesystem and method of the present invention is specifically useful forthe Internet, it should be understood that the client computers 12,advertiser web servers 14, account management server 22, and searchengine web server 24 may be connected together through one of a numberof different types of networks. Such networks may include local areanetworks (LANs), other wide area networks (WANs), and regional networksaccessed over telephone lines, such as commercial information services.The client and server processes may even comprise different programsexecuting simultaneously on a single computer.

The client computers 12 can be conventional personal computers (PCs),workstations, or computer systems of any other size. Each client 12typically includes one or more processors, memories, input/outputdevices, and a network interface, such as a conventional modem. Theadvertiser web servers 14, account management server 22, and the searchengine web server 24 can be similarly configured. However, advertiserweb servers 14, account management server 22, and search engine webserver 24 may each include many computers connected by a separateprivate network. In fact, the network 20 may include hundreds ofthousands of individual networks of computers.

The client computers 12 can execute web browser programs 16, such as theNAVIGATOR, EXPLORER, or MOSAIC browser programs, to locate the web pagesor records 30 stored on advertiser server 14. The browser programs 16allow the users to enter addresses of specific web pages 30 to beretrieved. These addresses are referred to as Uniform Resource Locators,or URLs. In addition, once a page has been retrieved, the browserprograms 16 can provide access to other pages or records when the user“clicks” on hyperlinks to other web pages. Such hyperlinks are locatedwithin the web pages 30 and provide an automated way for the user toenter the URL of another page and to retrieve that page. The pages canbe data records including as content plain textual information, or morecomplex digitally encoded multimedia content, such as software programs,graphics, audio signals, videos, and so forth.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, shown in FIG. 1,client computers 12 communicate through the network 20 with variousnetwork information providers, including account management server 22,search engine server 24, and advertiser servers 14 using thefunctionality provided by a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), althoughother communications protocols, such as FTP, SNMP, TELNET, and a numberof other protocols known in the art, may be used. Preferably, searchengine server 24, account management server 22, and advertiser servers14 are located on the World Wide Web.

As discussed above, at least two types of server are contemplated in apreferred embodiment of the present invention. The first servercontemplated is an account management server 22 comprising a computerstorage medium 32 and a processing system 34. A database 38 is stored onthe storage medium 32 of the account management server 22. The database38 contains advertiser account information. It will be appreciated fromthe description below that the system and method of the presentinvention may be implemented in software that is stored as executableinstructions on a computer storage medium, such as memories or massstorage devices, on the account management server 22. Conventionalbrowser programs 16, running on client computers 12, may be used toaccess advertiser account information stored on account managementserver 22. Preferably, access to the account management server 22 isaccomplished through a firewall, not shown, which protects the accountmanagement and search result placement programs and the accountinformation from external tampering. Additional security may be providedvia enhancements to the standard communications protocols such as SecureHTTP or the Secure Sockets Layer.

The second server type contemplated is a search engine web server 24. Asearch engine program permits network users, upon navigating to thesearch engine web server URL or sites on other web servers capable ofsubmitting queries to the search engine web server 24 through theirbrowser program 16, to type keyword queries to identify pages ofinterest among the millions of pages available on the World Wide Web. Ina preferred embodiment of the present invention, the search engine webserver 24 generates a search result list that includes, at least inpart, relevant entries obtained from and formatted by the results of thebidding process conducted by the account management server 22. Thesearch engine web server 24 generates a list of hypertext links todocuments that contain information relevant to search terms entered bythe user at the client computer 12. The search engine web servertransmits this list, in the form of a web page, to the network user,where it is displayed on the browser 16 running on the client computer12. A presently preferred embodiment of the search engine web server maybe found by navigating to the web page at URL http://www.goto.com/. Inaddition, the search result list web page, an example of which ispresented in FIG. 7, will be discussed below in further detail.

Search engine web server 24 is connected to the Internet 20. In apreferred embodiment of the present invention, search engine web server24 includes a search database 40 comprised of search listing recordsused to generate search results in response to user queries. Inaddition, search engine web server 24 may also be connected to theaccount management server 22. Account management server 22 may also beconnected to the Internet. The search engine web server 24 and theaccount management server 22 of the present invention address thedifferent information needs of the users located at client computers 12.

For example, one class of users located at client computers 12 may benetwork information providers such as advertising web site promoters orowners having advertiser web pages 30 located on advertiser web servers14. These advertising web site promoters, or advertisers, may wish toaccess account information residing in storage 32 on account managementserver 22. An advertising web site promoter may, through the accountresiding on the account management server 22, participate in acompetitive bidding process with other advertisers. An advertiser maybid on any number of search terms relevant to the content of theadvertiser's web site. In one embodiment of the present invention, therelevance of a bidded search term to an advertiser's web site isdetermined through a manual editorial process prior to insertion of thesearch listing containing the search term and advertiser web site URLinto the database 40. In an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention, the relevance of a bidded search term in a search listing tothe corresponding web site may be evaluated using a computer programexecuting at processor 34 of account management server 22, where thecomputer program will evaluate the search term and corresponding website according to a set of predefined editorial rules.

The higher bids receive more advantageous placement on the search resultlist page generated by the search engine 24 when a search using thesearch term bid on by the advertiser is executed. In a preferredembodiment of the present invention, the amount bid by an advertisercomprises a money amount that is deducted from the account of theadvertiser for each time the advertiser's web site is accessed via ahyperlink on the search result list page. A searcher “clicks” on thehyperlink with a computer input device to initiate a retrieval requestto retrieve the information associated with the advertiser's hyperlink.Preferably, each access or “click” on a search result list hyperlinkwill be redirected to the search engine web server 24 to associate the“click” with the account identifier for an advertiser. This redirectaction, which is not apparent to the searcher, will access accountidentification information coded into the search result page beforeaccessing the advertiser's URL using the search result list hyperlinkclicked on by the searcher. The account identification information isrecorded in the advertiser's account along with information from theretrieval request as a retrieval request event. Since the informationobtained through this mechanism conclusively matches an accountidentifier with a URL in a manner not possible using conventional serversystem logs known in the art, accurate account debit records will bemaintained. Most preferably, the advertiser's web site description andhyperlink on the search result list page is accompanied by an indicationthat the advertiser's listing is a paid listing. Most preferably, eachpaid listing displays a “cost to advertiser,” which is an amountcorresponding to a “price-per-click” paid by the advertiser for eachreferral to the advertiser's site through the search result list.

A second class of users at client computers 12 may comprise searchersseeking specific information on the web. The searchers may access,through their browsers 16, a search engine web page 36 residing on webserver 24. The search engine web page 36 includes a query box in which asearcher may type a search term comprising one or more keywords.Alternatively, the searcher may query the search engine web server 24through a query box hyperlinked to the search engine web server 24 andlocated on a web page stored at a remote web server. When the searcherhas finished entering the search term, the searcher may transmit thequery to the search engine web server 24 by clicking on a providedhyperlink. The search engine web server 24 will then generate a searchresult list page and transmit this page to the searcher at the clientcomputer 12.

The searcher may click on the hypertext links associated with eachlisting on the search results page to access the corresponding webpages. The hypertext links may access web pages anywhere on theInternet, and include paid listings to advertiser web pages 18 locatedon advertiser web servers 14. In a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the search result list also includes non-paid listings thatare not placed as a result of advertiser bids and are generated by aconventional World Wide Web search engine, such as the INKTOMI, LYCOS,or YAHOO! search engines. The non-paid hypertext links may also includelinks manually indexed into the database 40 by an editorial team. Mostpreferably, the non-paid listings follow the paid advertiser listings onthe search results page.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing menus, display screens, and input screenspresented to an advertiser accessing the account management server 22through a conventional browser program 16. The advertiser, upon enteringthe URL of the account management server 22 into the browser program 16of FIG. 1, invokes a login application, discussed below as shown atscreen 110 of FIG. 2, running on the processing system 34 of the server22. Once the advertiser is logged-in, the processing system 34 providesa menu 120 that has a number of options and further services foradvertisers. These items, which will be discussed in more detail below,cause routines to be invoked to either implement the advertiser'srequest or request further information prior to implementing theadvertiser's request. In one embodiment of the present invention, theadvertiser may access several options through menu 120, includingrequesting customer service 130, viewing advertiser policies 140,performing account administration tasks 150, adding money to theadvertiser's account 160, managing the account's advertising presence onthe search engine 170, and viewing activity reports 180.Context-specific help 190 may also generally be available at menu 120and all of the above-mentioned options.

The login procedure of the preferred embodiment of the present inventionis shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 for two types of user. FIG. 3 shows the loginprocedures 270 for an advertiser. FIG. 4 shows the login procedures 290for an administrator managing and maintaining the system and method ofthe present invention. As discussed above, the advertiser oradministrator at a client computer 12 must first use a browser programat steps 271 or 291 to access the account management server. After theadvertiser navigates to the URL of the login page to start the loginprocess at step 272 or 292, the processing system 34 of the accountmanagement server 22 invokes a login application at steps 274 or 294.According to this application, the processor provides an input screen110 (FIG. 2) that requests the advertiser's or administrator's user nameand password. These items of information are provided at steps 276 or296 to a security application known in the art for the purpose ofauthentication, based on the account information stored in a databasestored in storage 32 of account management server 22.

According to FIG. 3, after the user has been authenticated as anadvertiser, the advertiser is provided with the menu screen 120 of FIG.2 and limited read/write access privileges only to the correspondingadvertiser account, as shown in step 278. The advertiser login event 278may also be recorded in step 280 in an audit trail data structure aspart of the advertiser's account record in the database. The audit trailis preferably implemented as a series of entries in database 38, whereeach entry corresponds to an event wherein the advertiser's accountrecord is accessed. Preferably, the audit trail information for anaccount record may be viewed by the account owner and other appropriateadministrators.

However, if the user is authenticated as an administrator in step 295 ofFIG. 4, the administrator is provided with specified administrativeaccess privileges to all advertiser accounts as shown in step 296. Theadministrator login event 296 is recorded in step 297 in the audit traildata structure portion of the administrator's account record. This audittrail is preferably implemented as a series of entries in database 38,where each entry corresponds to an event wherein the administrator'saccount record is accessed. Most preferably, the administrator's audittrail information may be viewed by the account owner and otherappropriate administrators.

Furthermore, instead of the general advertiser main menu shown to theauthenticated advertiser users in step 282, the authenticatedadministrator is provided in step 298 with access to search the database38 of advertiser accounts. Preferably, a database search interface isprovided to the administrator that enables the administrator to selectan advertiser account to monitor. For example, the interface may includequery boxes in which the administrator may enter an account number orusername or contact name corresponding to an account the administratorwishes to access. When the administrator selects an advertiser accountto monitor in step 299, the administrator is then brought to the mainadvertiser page 120 of FIG. 2, which is also seen by the advertisers.

Access to the account information 32 located on the account managementserver 22 is restricted to users having an account record on the system,as only those users are provided with a valid login name and password.Password and login name information is stored along with the user'sother account information in the database 38 of the account managementserver 22, as shown in FIG. 1. Account information, including a loginuser name and password, is entered in the database 38 of FIG. 1 via aseparate online registration process that is outside the scope of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the types of information contained in eachadvertiser account record 300 in the database. First, an advertiseraccount record 300 contains a username 302 and a password 304, used foronline authentication as described above. The account record alsocontains contact information 310 (e.g., contact name, company name,street address, phone, e-mail address).

Contact information 310 is preferably utilized to direct communicationsto the advertiser when the advertiser has requested notification of keyadvertiser events under the notification option, discussed below. Theaccount record 300 also contains billing information 320 (e.g., currentbalance, credit card information). The billing information 320 containsdata accessed when the advertiser selects the option to add money to theadvertiser's account. In addition, certain billing information, such asthe current balance, may trigger events requiring notification under thenotification option. The audit trail section 325 of an account record300 contains a list of all events wherein the account record 300 isaccessed. Each time an account record 300 is accessed or modified, by anadministrator or advertiser a short entry describing the account accessand/or modification event will be appended to the audit trail section330 of the administrator or advertiser account that initiated the event.The audit trail information may then be used to help generate a historyof transactions made by the account owner under the account.

The advertising information section 330 contains information needed toconduct the online bidding process of the present invention, wherein aposition is determined for a web site description and hyperlink within asearch result list generated by a search engine. The advertising data330 for each user account 300 may be organized as zero or moresubaccounts 340. Each subaccount 340 comprises at least one searchlisting 344. Each search listing corresponds to a bid on a search term.An advertiser may utilize subaccounts to organize multiple bids onmultiple search terms, or to organize bids for multiple web sites.Subaccounts are also particularly useful for advertisers seeking totrack the performance of targeted market segments. The subaccountsuperstructure is introduced for the benefit of the advertisers seekingto organize their advertising efforts, and does not affect the method ofoperation of the present invention. Alternatively, the advertisinginformation section need not include the added organizational layer ofsubaccounts, but may simply comprise one or more search listings.

The search listing 344 corresponds to a search term/bid pairing andcontains key information to conduct the online competitive biddingprocess. Preferably, each search listing comprises the followinginformation: search term 352, web site description 354, URL 356, bidamount 358, and a title 360. The search term 352 comprises one or morekeywords which may be common words in English (or any other language).Each keyword in turn comprises a character string. The search term isthe object of the competitive online bidding process. The advertiserselects a search term to bid on that is relevant to the content of theadvertiser's web site. Ideally, the advertiser may select a search termthat is targeted to terms likely to be entered by searchers seeking theinformation on the advertiser's web site, although less common searchterms may also be selected to ensure comprehensive coverage of relevantsearch terms for bidding.

The web site description 354 is a short textual description (preferablyless than 190 characters) of the content of the advertiser's web siteand may be displayed as part of the advertiser's entry in a searchresult list. The search listing 344 may also contain a title 360 of theweb site that may be displayed as the hyperlinked heading to theadvertiser's entry in a search result list. The URL 356 contains theUniform Resource Locator address of the advertiser's web site. When theuser clicks on the hyperlink provided in the advertiser's search resultlist entry, the URL is provided to the browser program. The browserprogram, in turn, accesses the advertiser's web site through theredirection mechanism discussed above. The URL may also be displayed aspart of the advertiser's entry in a search result list.

The bid amount 358 preferably is a money amount bid by an advertiser fora listing. This money amount is deducted from the advertiser's prepaidaccount or is recorded for advertiser accounts that are invoiced foreach time a search is executed by a user on the corresponding searchterm and the search result list hyperlink is used to refer the searcherto the advertiser's web site. Finally, a rank value is a value generateddynamically, preferably by the processing system 34 of the accountmanagement server 22 shown in FIG. 1, each time an advertiser places abid or a search enters a search query. The rank value of an advertiser'ssearch listing determines the placement location of the advertiser'sentry in the search result list generated when a search is executed onthe corresponding search term. Preferably, rank value is an ordinalvalue determined in a direct relationship to the bid amount 358; thehigher the bid amount, the higher the rank value, and the moreadvantageous the placement location on the search result list. Mostpreferably, the rank value of 1 is assigned to the highest bid amountwith successively higher ordinal values (e.g., 2, 3, 4, . . . )associated with successively lower ranks and assigned to successivelylower bid amounts.

Once logged in, an advertiser can perform a number of straightforwardtasks set forth in menu 120 of FIG. 2, including viewing a list of rulesand policies for advertisers, and requesting customer serviceassistance. These items cause routines to be invoked to implement therequest. For example, when “Customer Service” is selected, an inputscreen 130 is displayed to allow the advertiser to select the type ofcustomer service requested. In addition, forms may be provided on screen130 so that an advertiser may type a customer comment into a web-basedinput form.

When “View Advertiser Policies” is selected, a routine will be invokedby processing system 34 of the account management server 22 FIG. 1. Asshown in FIG. 2, the routine will display an informational web page 140.The web page 140 sets forth the advertiser policies currently in effect(e.g., “All search listing descriptions must clearly relate to thesearch term”).

Menu 120 of FIG. 2 also includes an “Account Administration” selection150 which allows an advertiser, among other things, to view and changethe advertiser's contact information and billing information, or updatethe advertiser's access profile, if any. Web-based forms well known inthe art and similar to those discussed above are provided for updatingaccount information.

The “Account Administration” menu also includes a selection enabling anadvertiser to view the transaction history of the advertiser's account.Under the “View Transaction History” selection, the advertiser mayinvoke routines to view a listing of past account transactions (e.g.,adding money to account, adding or deleting bidded search terms, orchanging a bid amount). Additional routines may be implemented to permitadvertisers to display a history of transactions of a specified type, orthat occur within a specified time. The transaction information may beobtained from the audit trail list 325 of FIG. 5, described above.Clickable buttons that may be implemented in software, web-based forms,and/or menus may be provided as known in the art to enable advertisersto specify such limitations.

In addition, the “Account Administration” menu 150 of FIG. 2 includes aselection enabling an advertiser to set notification options. Under thisselection, the advertiser may select options that will cause the systemto notify the advertiser when certain key events have occurred. Forexample, the advertiser may elect to set an option to have the systemsend conventional electronic mail messages to the advertiser when theadvertiser's account balance has fallen below a specified level. In thismanner, the advertiser may receive a “warning” to replenish the accountbefore the account is suspended (meaning the advertiser's listings willno longer appear in search result lists). Another key event for whichthe advertiser may wish notification is a change in position of anadvertiser's listing in the search result list generated for aparticular search term. For example, an advertiser may wish to have thesystem send a conventional electronic mail message to the advertiser ifthe advertiser has been outbid by another advertiser for a particularsearch term (meaning that the advertiser's listing will appear in aposition further down on the search result list page than previously).When one of the system-specified key events occurs, a database search istriggered for each affected search listing. The system will then executethe appropriate notification routine in accordance with the notificationoptions specified in the advertiser's account.

Referring back to FIG. 2, a selection also appears in menu 120 thatpermits an advertiser to add money to the advertiser's account, so thatthe advertiser will have funds in their account to pay for referrals tothe advertiser's site through the search results page. Preferably, onlyadvertisers with funds in their advertiser's accounts may have theirpaid listings included in any search result lists generated. Mostpreferably, advertisers meeting selected business criteria may elect, inplace of maintaining a positive account balance at all times, incuraccount charges regardless of account balance and pay an invoiced amountat regular intervals which reflects the charges incurred by actualreferrals to the advertiser's site generated by the search engine. Theprocess that is executed when the “Add Money to Account” selection isinvoked is shown in further detail in FIG. 6, beginning at step 602.When the “Add Money to Account” selection is clicked in step 604, afunction is invoked which receives data identifying the advertiser andretrieves the advertiser's account from the database. The executingprocess then stores the advertiser's default billing information anddisplays the default billing information for the advertiser in step 606.The displayed billing information includes a default amount of money tobe added, a default payment type, and default instrument information.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, an advertiser mayadd funds online and substantially in real time through the use of acredit card, although the use of other payment types are certainly wellwithin the scope of the present invention. For example, in an alternateembodiment of the present invention, advertisers may add funds to theiraccount by transferring the desired amount from the advertiser's bankaccount through an electronic funds verification mechanism known in theart such as debit cards, in a manner similar to that set forth in U.S.Pat. No. 5,724,424 to Gifford. In another alternate embodiment of thepresent invention, advertisers can add funds to their account usingconventional paper-based checks. In that case, the additional funds maybe updated in the account record database through manual entry. Theinstrument information includes further details regarding the type ofpayment. For example, for a credit card, the instrument information mayinclude data on the name of the credit card (e.g., MasterCard, Visa, orAmerican Express), the credit card number, the expiration date of thecredit card, and billing information for the credit card (e.g., billingname and address). In a preferred embodiment of the present invention,only a partial credit card number is displayed to the advertiser forsecurity purposes.

The default values displayed to the advertiser are obtained from apersistent state, e.g., stored in the account database. In an embodimentof the present invention, the stored billing information values maycomprise the values set by the advertiser the last (e.g. most recent)time the process of adding money was invoked and completed for theadvertiser's account. The default billing information is displayed tothe advertiser in a web-based form. The advertiser may click on theappropriate text entry boxes on the web-based form and make changes tothe default billing information. After the advertiser completes thechanges, the advertiser may click on a hyperlinked “Submit” buttonprovided on the form to request that the system update the billinginformation and current balance in step 608. Once the advertiser hasrequested an update, a function is invoked by the system which validatesthe billing information provided by the advertiser and displays it backto the advertiser for confirmation, as shown in step 610. Theconfirmation billing information is displayed in read-only form and maynot be changed by the advertiser.

The validation step functions as follows. If payment is to be debitedfrom an advertiser's external account, payment may be authenticated,authorized and completed using the system set forth in U.S. Pat. No.5,724,424 to Gifford. However, if the payment type is by credit card, avalidating algorithm is invoked by the system, which validates thecredit card number using a method such as that set forth in U.S. Pat.No. 5,836,241 to Stein et al. The validating algorithm also validatesthe expiration date via a straightforward comparison with the currentsystem date and time. In addition, the function stores the new values ina temporary instance prior to confirmation by the advertiser.

Once the advertiser ascertains that the displayed data is correct, theadvertiser may click on a “Confirm” button provided on the page toindicate that the account should be updated in step 612. In step 612, afunction is invoked by the system which adds money to the appropriateaccount balance, updates the advertiser's billing information, andappends the billing information to the advertiser's payment history. Theadvertiser's updated billing information is stored to the persistentstate (e.g., the account record database) from the temporary instance.

Within the function invoked at step 612, a credit card payment functionmay be invoked by the system at step 614. In an alternate embodiment ofthe present invention, other payment functions such as debit cardpayments may be invoked by defining multiple payment types depending onthe updated value of the payment type.

If the payment type is credit card, the user's account is creditedimmediately at step 616, the user's credit card having already beenvalidated in step 610. A screen showing the status of the add moneytransaction is displayed, showing a transaction number and a new currentbalance, reflecting the amount added by the just-completed credit cardtransaction.

In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, after the money hasbeen added to the account, the amount of money added to the account maybe allocated between subaccounts the end of the add money process atstep 616. If the advertiser has no subaccounts, all of the money in theaccount is a general allocation. However, if the advertiser has morethan one subaccount, the system will display a confirmation and defaultmessage prompting the advertiser to “Allocate Money BetweenSubaccounts”.

The menu selection “Allocate Money Between Subaccounts” may be invokedwhen money is added to the advertiser account after step 616 of FIG. 6,or it may be invoked within the “Account Management” menu 170 shown inFIG. 2. The “Account Management” menu 170 is accessible from theAdvertiser Main Page 120, as shown in FIG. 2. This “Allocate MoneyBetween Subaccounts” menu selection permits an advertiser to allocatecurrent and any pending balances of the advertiser's account among theadvertiser's subaccounts. The system will then update the subaccountbalances. The current balance allocations will be made in real time,while the pending balance allocations will be stored in the persistentstate. A routine will be invoked to update the subaccount balances toreflect the pending balance allocations when the payment for the pendingbalance is processed. Automatic notification may be sent to theadvertiser at that time, if requested. This intuitive online accountmanagement and allocation permits advertisers to manage their onlineadvertising budget quickly and efficiently. Advertisers may replenishtheir accounts with funds and allocate their budgets, all in one easyweb-based session. The computer-based implementation eliminates timeconsuming, high cost manual entry of the advertiser's accounttransactions.

The “Allocate Money Between Subaccounts” routine begins when anadvertiser indicates the intent to allocate money by invoking theappropriate menu selection at the execution points indicated above. Whenthe advertiser indicates the intent to allocate, a function is invokedby the system to determine whether there are funds pending in thecurrent balance (i.e., unactivated account credits) that have not yetbeen allocated to the advertiser's subaccounts, and displays the balanceselection options. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention,an account instance is created and a pending current balance accountfield is set from the persistent state.

If there are no unallocated pending funds, the system may display thecurrent available balances for the account as a whole as well as foreach subaccount. The advertiser then distributes the current availablebalance between subaccounts and submits a request to update thebalances. A function is invoked which calculates and displays thecurrent running total for subaccount balances. The current running totalis stored in a temporary variable which is set to the sum of currentbalances for all subaccounts for the specified advertiser. The functionalso validates the new available subaccount balances to make sure thatthe total does not exceed the authorized amount. If the newadvertiser-set available subaccount balances does not exceed theauthorized amount, a function is invoked which will update all of thesubaccount balances in the persistent state and display the update inread-only format.

If there are pending funds in the current account balance, the pendingfunds must be allocated separately from the available current balance.The pending funds will then be added into the available current balancewhen the funds are received. The function must therefore prompt theadvertiser to choose between allocating pending funds or allocatingavailable funds. The allocating pending funds selection works in muchthe same manner as the allocating available funds selection outlinedabove. After the advertiser chooses to allocate pending funds, a routineis invoked to display current pending balances for the account and thesubaccounts. The advertiser distributes the pending subaccount balancesbetween campaigns and submits a request to update the balances. Afunction is invoked which calculates and displays the current runningtotals for the pending subaccount balances. This function also validatesthe new pending subaccount allocations to make sure that the allocationsdo not exceed any authorized amount. The current running total ofpending allocations is set to the sum of current pending balances forall subaccounts for the advertiser. If the new user-set pendingsubaccount balances or the total of such balances do not exceed anyauthorized amount, the function will update all of the pendingsubaccount allocations in the persistent state, e.g. the advertiser'saccount in the database, and display the update in read-only format.

As indicated above and shown in FIG. 2, a routine displaying the accountmanagement menu 170 may be invoked from the advertiser main menu 120.Aside from the “Allocate Money Between Subaccounts” selection describedabove, the remaining selections all use to some extent the searchlistings present in the advertiser's account on the database, and mayalso affect the advertiser's entry in the search result list. Thus, afurther description of the search result list generated by the searchengine is needed at this point.

When a remote searcher accesses the search query page on the searchengine web server 24 and executes a search request according to theprocedure described previously, the search engine web server 24preferably generates and displays a search result list where the“canonicalized” entry in search term field of each search listing in thesearch result list exactly matches the canonicalized search term queryentered by the remote searcher. The canonicalization of search termsused in queries and search listings removes common irregularities ofsearch terms entered by searches and web site promoters, such as capitalletters and pluralizations, in order to generate relevant results.However, alternate schemes for determining a match between the searchterm field of the search listing and the search term query entered bythe remote searcher are well within the scope of the present invention.For example, string matching algorithms known in the art may be employedto generate matches where the keywords of the search listing search termand the search term query have the same root but are not exactly thesame (e.g., computing vs. computer). Alternatively a thesaurus databaseof synonyms may be stored at search engine web server 24, so thatmatches may be generated for a search term having synonyms. Localizationmethodologies may also be employed to refine certain searches. Forexample, a search for “bakery” or “grocery store” may be limited tothose advertisers within a selected city, zip code, or telephone areacode. This information may be obtained through a cross-reference of theadvertiser account database stored at storage 32 on account managementserver 22. Finally, internationalization methodologies may be employedto refine searches for users outside the United States. For example,country or language-specific search results may be generated, by across-reference of the advertiser account database, for example.

An example of a search result list display used in an embodiment of thepresent invention is shown in FIG. 7, which is a display of the firstseveral entries resulting from a search for the term “zip drives”. Asshown in FIG. 7, a single entry, such as entry 710 a in a search resultlist consists of a description 720 of the web site, preferablycomprising a title and a short textual description, and a hyperlink 730which, when clicked by a searcher, directs the searcher's browser to theURL where the described web site is located. The URL 740 may also bedisplayed in the search result list entry 710 a, as shown in FIG. 7. The“click through” of a search result item occurs when the remote searcherviewing the search result item display 710 of FIG. 7 selects, or“clicks” on the hyperlink 730 of the search result item display 710. Inorder for a “click through” to be completed, the searcher's click shouldbe recorded at the account management server and redirected to theadvertiser's URL via the redirect mechanism discussed above.

Search result list entries 710 a-710 h may also show the rank value ofthe advertiser's search listing. The rank value is an ordinal value,preferably a number, generated and assigned to the search listing by theprocessing system 34 of FIG. 1. Preferably, the rank value is assignedthrough a process, implemented in software, that establishes anassociation between the bid amount, the rank, and the search term of asearch listing. The process gathers all search listings that match aparticular search term, sorts the search listings in order from highestto lowest bid amount, and assigns a rank value to each search listing inorder. The highest bid amount receives the highest rank value, the nexthighest bid amount receives the next highest rank value, proceeding tothe lowest bid amount, which receives the lowest rank value. Mostpreferably, the highest rank value is 1 with successively increasingordinal values (e.g., 2, 3, 4, . . . ) assigned in order of successivelydecreasing rank. The correlation between rank value and bid amount isillustrated in FIG. 7, where each of the paid search list entries 710 athrough 710 f display the advertiser's bid amount 750 a through 750 ffor that entry. Preferably, if two search listings having the samesearch term also have the same bid amount, the bid that was receivedearlier in time will be assigned the higher rank value. Unpaid listings710 g and 710 h do not display a bid amount and are displayed followingthe lowest-ranked paid listing. Preferably, unpaid listings aredisplayed if there are an insufficient number of listings to fill the 40slots in a search results page. Unpaid listings are generated by asearch engine utilizing objective distributed database and textsearching algorithms known in the art. An example of such a searchengine may be operated by Inktomi Corporation. The original search queryentered by the remote searcher is used to generate unpaid listingsthrough the conventional search engine.

As shown in the campaign management menu 170 of FIG. 2, several choicesare presented to the advertiser to manage search listings. First, in the“Change Bids” selection, the advertiser may change the bid of searchlistings currently in the account. The process invoked by the system forthe change bids function is shown in FIG. 8. After the advertiserindicates the intent to change bids by selecting the “Change Bids” menuoption, the system searches the user's account in the database anddisplays the search listings for the entire account or a defaultsubaccount in the advertiser's account, as shown in step 810. Searchlistings may be grouped into subaccounts defined by the advertiser andmay comprise one or more search listings. Only one subaccount may bedisplayed at a time. The display should also preferably permit theadvertiser to change the subaccount selected, as shown in step 815. Thescreen display will then show the search listings for the selectedsubaccount, as indicated in step 820.

An example of screen display shown to the advertiser in step 810 isshown in FIG. 9 and will be discussed below. To change bids, theadvertiser user may specify new bids for search terms for which theadvertiser already has an existing bid by entering a new bid amount intothe new bid input field for the search term. The advertiser-entered bidchanges are displayed to the advertiser at step 820 of FIG. 8 asdiscussed above. To update the bids for the display page, the advertiserrequests, at step 830 of FIG. 8, to update the result of changes. Theadvertiser may transmit such a request to the account management serverby a variety of means, including clicking on a button graphic.

As shown in step 840 of FIG. 8, upon receiving the request to update theadvertiser's bids, the system calculates the new current bid amounts forevery search listing displayed, the rank values, and the bid amountneeded to become the highest ranked search listing matching the searchterm field. Preferably, the system then presents a display of changes atstep 850. After the user confirms the changes, the system updates thepersistent state by writing the changes to the account in the database.

The search listing data is displayed in tabular format, with each searchlisting corresponding to one row of the table 900. The search term 902is displayed in the leftmost column, followed by the current bid amount904, and the current rank 906 of the search listing. The current rank isfollowed by a column entitled “Bid to become #1” 907, defined as the bidamount needed to become the highest ranked search listing for thedisplayed search term. The rightmost column of each row comprises a newbid input field 908 which is set initially to the current bid amount.

As shown in FIG. 9, the search listings may be displayed as“subaccounts.” Each subaccount comprises one search listing group, withmultiple subaccounts residing within one advertiser account. Eachsubaccount may be displayed on a separate display page having a separatepage. The advertiser should preferably be able to change the subaccountbeing displayed by manipulating a pull-down menu 910 on the displayshown in FIG. 9. In addition, search listing groups that cannot bedisplayed completely in one page may be separated into pages which maybe individually viewed by manipulating pull-down menu 920. Again, theadvertiser should preferably be able to change the page displayed byclicking directly on a pull-down menu 920 located on the display page ofFIG. 9. The advertiser may specify a new bid for a displayed searchlisting by entering a new bid amount into the new bid input field 908for the search listing. To update the result of the advertiser-enteredchanges, the advertiser clicks on button graphic 912 to transmit anupdate request to the account management server, which updates the bidsas described above.

Many of the other selections listed in the “Account Management” menu 170of FIG. 2 function as variants of the “Change Bid” function describedabove. For example, if the advertiser selects the “Change Rank Position”option, the advertiser may be presented with a display similar to thedisplay of FIG. 9 used in the “Change Bid” function. However, in the“Change Rank Position” option, the “New Bid” field would be replaced bya “New Rank” field, in which the advertiser enters the new desired rankposition for a search term. After the advertiser requests that the ranksbe updated, the system then calculates a new bid price by any of avariety of algorithms easily available to one skilled in the art. Forexample, the system may invoke a routine to locate the search listing inthe search database having the desired rank/search term combination,retrieve the associated bid amount of said combination, and thencalculate a bid amount that is N cents higher; where N=1, for example.After the system calculates the new bid price and presents a read-onlyconfirmation display to the advertiser, the system updates the bidprices and rank values upon receiving approval from the advertiser.

The “Modify Listing Component” selection on Account Management menu 170of FIG. 2 may also generate a display similar to the format of FIG. 9.When the advertiser selects the “Modify Listing Component” option, theadvertiser may input changes to the URL, title, or description of asearch listing via web-based forms set up for each search listing.Similar to the process discussed above, the forms for the URL, title,and description fields may initially contain the old URL, title anddescription as default values. After the advertiser enters the desiredchanges, the advertiser may transmit a request to the system to updatethe changes. The system then displays a read-only confirmation screen,and then writes the changes to the persistent state (e.g., the useraccount database) after the advertiser approves the changes.

A process similar to those discussed above may be implemented forchanging any other peripheral options related to a search listing; forexample, changing the matching options related to a bidded search term.Any recalculations of bids or ranks required by the changes may also bedetermined in a manner similar to the processes discussed above.

In the “Delete Bidded Search Term” option, the system retrieves all ofthe search listings in the account of the advertiser and displays thesearch listings in an organization and a format similar to the displayof FIG. 9. Each search listing entry may include, instead of the new bidfield, a check box for the advertiser to click on. The advertiser wouldthen click to place a check (X) mark next to each search term to bedeleted, although any other means known in the art for selecting one ormore items from a list on a web page may be used. After the advertiserselects all the search listings to be deleted and requests that thesystem update the changes, the system preferably presents a read-onlyconfirmation of the requested changes, and updates the advertiser'saccount only after the advertiser approves the changes. The “deleted”search listings are removed from the search database 36 and will notappear in subsequent searches. However, the search listing will remainas part of the advertiser's account record for billing and accountactivity monitoring purposes.

In the “Add Bidded Search Term” option, the system provides theadvertiser with a display having a number of entry fields correspondingto the elements of a search listing. The advertiser then enters intoeach field information corresponding to the respective search listingelement, including the search term, the web site URL, the web sitetitle, the web site description, and the bid amount, as well as anyother relevant information. After the advertiser has completed enteringthe data and has indicated thus to the system, the system returns aread-only confirmation screen to the advertiser. The system then createsa new search listing instance and writes it into the account databaseand the search database upon receiving approval from the advertiser.

Preferably, the “Account Management” menu 170 of FIG. 2 provides aselection for the advertiser to “Get Suggestions On Bidded Search Term”.In this case, the advertiser enters a bidded search term into aform-driven query box displayed to the advertiser. The system reads thesearch term entered by the advertiser and generates a list of additionalrelated search terms to assist the advertiser in locating search termsrelevant to the content of the advertiser's web site. Preferably, theadditional search terms are generated using methods such as a stringmatching algorithm applied to a database of bidded search terms and/or athesaurus database implemented in software. The advertiser may selectsearch terms to bid on from the list generated by the system. In thatcase, the system displays to the advertisers the entry fields describedabove for the “Add Bidded Search Term” selection, with a form forentering a search listing for each search term selected. Preferably, theselected search term is inserted as a default value into the form foreach search listing. Default values for the other search listingcomponents may also be inserted into the forms if desired.

The “Account Management” menu 170 of FIG. 2 also preferably providesadvertisers with a “Project Expenses” selection. In this selection, theadvertiser specifies a search listing or subaccount for which theadvertiser would like to predict a “daily run rate” and “days remainingto expiration.” The system calculates the projections based on a costprojection algorithm, and displays the predictions to the advertiser ona read-only screen. The predictions may be calculated using a number ofdifferent algorithms known in the art. However, since the cost of asearch listing is calculated by multiplying the bid amount by the totalnumber of clicks received by the search listing at that bid amountduring a specified time period, every cost projection algorithm mustgenerally determine an estimated number of clicks per month (or otherspecified time period) for a search listing. The clicks on a searchlisting may be tracked via implementation of a software countingmechanism as is well known in the art. Clicks for all search listingsmay be tracked over time, this data may be used to generate estimatednumbers of clicks per month overall, and for individual search terms.For a particular search term, an estimated number of searches per day isdetermined and is multiplied by the cost of a click. This product isthen multiplied by a ratio of the average number of clicks over theaverage number of impressions for the rank of the search listing inquestion to obtain a daily run rate. The current balance may be dividedby the daily run rate to obtain a projected number of days to exhaustionor “expiration” of account funds.

One embodiment of the present invention bases the cost projectionalgorithm on a simple predictor model that assumes that every searchterm performs in a similar fashion. This model assumes that the rank ofthe advertiser's search listing will remain constant and not fluctuatethroughout the month. This algorithm has the advantages of being simpleto implement and fast to calculate. The predictor model is based on thefact that the click through rate, e.g. the total number of clicks, orreferrals, for a particular searcher listing, is considered to be afunction of the rank of the search listing. The model therefore assumesthat the usage curve of each search term, that is, the curve that resultwhen the number of clicks on a search listing is plotted against therank of the search listing, is similar to the usage curve for all searchterms. Thus, known values extrapolated over time for the sum of allclicks for all search terms, the sum of all clicks at a given rank forall search terms, and the sum of all clicks for the selected search termmay be employed in a simple proportion to determine the total of allclicks for the given rank for the selected search term. The estimateddaily total of all clicks for the selected search term at the selectedrank is then multiplied by the advertiser's current bid amount for thesearch term at that rank to determine a daily expense projection. Inaddition, if particular search terms or classes of search terms areknown to differ markedly from the general pattern, correction valuesspecific to the search term, advertiser, or other parameter may beintroduced to fine-tune the projected cost estimate.

Finally, the “Account Management” menu 170 of FIG. 2 provides severalselections to view information related to the advertiser's campaigns.The “View Subaccount Information” selection displays read-onlyinformation related to the selected subaccount. The “View Search TermList” selection displays the list of the advertiser's selected searchterms along with the corresponding URLs, bid price, and rank, with thesearch terms preferably grouped by subaccount. The advertiser may alsoview current top bids for a set of search terms selected from a list ofsearch terms from a read-only display generated by the system uponreceiving the requested search terms from the advertiser.

For an advertiser who requires a more comprehensive report of searchlisting activity, the “View Report” option may be selected from theAdvertiser Main Page 120 of FIG. 2. In an embodiment of the presentinvention, the “View Report” options generate reports comprehensive forup to one year preceding the current date. For example, daily reportsare available for the each of the immediately preceding 7 days, weeklyreports for the preceding four weeks, monthly reports for the precedingtwelve months, and quarterly reports for the last four quarters.Additional reports may also be made available depending on advertiserinterest. Other predefined report types may include activity trackedduring the following time periods: Since Inception of the Account, YearTo Date, Yearly, Quarter To Date, Month To Date, and Week to Date.Report Categories may include a Detail Report, viewable by AdvertiserAccount, by Search Listing, and by URL, and a Summary Report, viewableby Advertiser Account and by Subaccount. The reports may includeidentification data such as advertiser account and subaccount name, thedates covered by the report and the type of report. In addition, thereports may include key search listing account data such as currentbalance, pending current balance, average daily account debit, and runrate. Furthermore, the reports may also include key data, such as:search terms, URLs, bids, current ranks, and number of clicks, number ofsearches done for the search term, number of impressions (times that thesearch listing appeared in a search result list), and click through rate(defined as Number of Clicks/Number of Impressions). Preferably, thereport is available in at least HTML view options for viewing via abrowser program, printing, or downloading. Note, however, that otherview options may be made available, such as Adobe Acrobat, PostScript,ASCII text, spreadsheet interchange formats (e.g., CSV, tab-delimited),and other well-known formats.

When the advertiser has selected the “View Report” option, the systeminvokes a function which displays a list of available report types,dates, categories, and view options. The system preferably creates areport instance with the following fields, all of which are initiallyset to null: report type, report date, report category, and view option.Once the advertiser has defined the parameters described above, thesystem invokes a function to generate the requested report, based on theadvertiser-set parameters, and to display the report, based on the viewoption parameter.

Finally, a preferred embodiment of the present invention implements anoption for context specific help that the advertiser may request at anytime the advertiser is logged in. The help option may be implemented asa small icon or button located on the system generated display page. Theadvertiser may click on the icon or button graphic on the display pageto request help, upon which the system generates and displays a helppage keyed to the function of the particular display the user isviewing. The help may be implemented as separate display pages, asearchable index, dialog boxes, or by any other methods well known inthe art.

The foregoing detailed description should be regarded as illustrativerather than limiting and the appended claims, including all equivalents,are intended to define the scope of the invention.

1. A search engine method comprising: at an account management server ofan online search processing system configured to receive search requestsfrom users and provide responsive search results based on the receivedsearch requests, providing menu options for access by a web sitepromoter; at the account management server, receiving over a computernetwork from the web site promoter information for an account associatedwith the web site promoter, including receiving over the computernetwork at the account management server information defining asubaccount from the web site promoter to organize advertising efforts ofthe web site promoter, including for each search listing of thesubaccount, receiving at the account management server from the web sitepromoter information specifying a search listing to be included in thedefined subaccount, receiving at the account management server a searchterm for the specified search listing of the defined subaccount,receiving at the account management server a uniform resource locator(URL) address associated with a web site of the web site promoter forthe specified search listing of the defined subaccount, and receiving atthe account management server a bid amount chargeable to the account ofthe web site promoter for the specified search listing of the definedsubaccount; at the account management server, determining a current rankvalue associated with the bid amount for each respective search listingof the respective subaccount; at the account management server,receiving additional information defining additional subaccounts fromthe web site promoter to define a plurality of subaccounts; storing atthe account management server the received information for the pluralityof subaccounts and each respective search listing in a database;subsequently, providing computer network access to the accountmanagement server for monitoring the advertising efforts of the web sitepromoter and the plurality of subaccounts of the database by the website promoter; receiving at the account management server over thecomputer network from a data processing device of the web site promotera request for current account status information; and sending a messageover the computer network to the data processing device of the web sitepromoter data defining the requested current account status information.2. The method of claim 1 further comprising: automatically sending anindication of account status for a subaccount from the accountmanagement server to the web site promoter in response to apredetermined condition.
 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:sending an electronic mail message from the account management server tothe web site promoter to advise the web site promoter of thepredetermined condition.
 4. The method of claim 2 wherein sending anindication comprises sending to the web site promoter a warning toreplenish the account before the account is suspended.
 5. The method ofclaim 1 wherein receiving the information specifying a search listingfurther comprises: receiving a web site description for the web site. 6.The method of claim 1 wherein providing menu options comprises:providing an option to add to a balance in the account; and providing anoption to allocate money between the plurality of subaccounts of theaccount.
 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising: providing a bidamount necessary to achieve a rank of
 1. 8. The method of claim 1wherein sending a message defining the requested current account statusinformation comprises sending data about the current rank valueassociated with the bid amount for each respective search listing of therespective subaccount of the web site promoter.
 9. A search apparatuscomprising: an account management server operative to provide menuoptions for access by a web site promoter to organize advertisingefforts using an account on the search apparatus; the account managementserver operative to receive from the web site promoter data definingrespective subaccounts of a plurality of subaccounts of the web sitepromoter, each respective defined subaccount being defined by dataorganized into a plurality of search listings; the account managementserver further operative to receive from the web site promoter datadefining a search term for each respective search listing of thesubaccount, the account management server further operative to receivefrom the web site promoter data defining a uniform resource locator(URL) address associated with a web site of the web site promoter foreach respective search listing of the subaccount, and the accountmanagement server further operative to receive from the web sitepromoter data defining a bid amount chargeable to the account of the website promoter for each respective search listing of the subaccount; theaccount management server further operative to provide data defining acurrent rank value associated with the bid amount for each respectivesearch listing of the subaccount, a database configured to store dataabout the account as an account record, the account record includingdata for the plurality of subaccounts and data for each respectivesearch listing; wherein the account management server is furtheroperative to provide computer network access for monitoring theadvertising efforts by the web site promoter and the account of the website promoter by the web site promoter.
 10. The search apparatus ofclaim 9 wherein the account management server is operative toautomatically send an indication of account status for the subaccount tothe web site promoter in response to a predetermined condition.
 11. Thesearch apparatus of claim 10 wherein the account management server isfurther operative to send an electronic mail message to the web sitepromoter to advise the web site promoter of the predetermined condition.12. The search apparatus of claim 10 wherein the account managementserver is further operative to send to the web site promoter a warningto replenish the subaccount before the subaccount is suspended.
 13. Thesearch apparatus of claim 9 wherein the account management server isfurther operative to receive a web site description for the web site.14. The search apparatus of claim 9 wherein the account managementserver is further operative to provide an option to add to a balance inthe subaccount; and provide an option to allocate money between thesubaccount and other subaccounts of the web site promoter.
 15. Thesearch apparatus of claim 9 wherein the account management server isfurther operative to provide a bid amount necessary to achieve a rank of1.